


Calcium Builds STRONG Hearts

by chronologicalimplosion



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Pesterlog, Red Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-15
Updated: 2013-06-15
Packaged: 2017-12-15 01:08:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/843548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chronologicalimplosion/pseuds/chronologicalimplosion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Equius doesn't really have much reason to talk to any of the humans. They're all inferior annoyances, in his eyes. But he starts to talk to one of them anyway, out of curiosity. She is ever full of surprises, the purple human.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Calcium Builds STRONG Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> [Written for the Homestuck Shipping World Cup Bonus Round 1 Prompt:](http://hs-worldcup.dreamwidth.org/3493.html?thread=246181#cmt246181)
> 
> Equius<3Rose
> 
> “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” ― Lao Tzu
> 
>  
> 
> It was finished about an hour too late to be submitted on time, but I'm pretty happy with it, so here it is anyway.
> 
> There are some weird headcanony things in here about both the Void aspect and grimdarkness, which I didn't really want to go into text-walls of explanation for. If you have any questions, I check the comments pretty regularly and I'd be glad to answer them.
> 
> After all this writing, I'm still not totally sure if I ship this or not.

In general, he doesn't talk much to the humans. They are not trolls and yet like to pretend they are equals, and they try to cover up their rusty red blood with colors far grander than they deserve (the red human is acceptably garbed, but his actions are lewd and ine%cusable for other reasons entirely).

But Kanaya, who generally has her head on fairly straight, is talking a lot to the purple human, and Nepeta is always talking to him about making fur-iends and playing nice, and things do get a bit dull with only his lurid compatriots and their e%cruciating company. So he sends her a message one day, more or less on a whim.

centaursTesticle [CT] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]

CT: D --> Hello there purple human   
CT: D --> It’s been brought to my attention that you are not as e%treme in your unsavory tendencies as the others of your ilk   
CT: D --> As such I’ve decided to attempt a conversational e%change with you   
CT: D --> I can only hope that my faith in your ability to act with due respect towards your better isn’t misplaced   
TT: I’ve had mixed reactions from your “ilk,” so I’d say the verdict is still out.   
TT: I don’t think I’m particularly well-suited to subservience, however, so perhaps it would be best for you to turn and run now.

He doesn’t, suffice to say. It’s... refreshing, to speak with such an intellectual. One who doesn’t make fun of his lexical acrobatics when attempting to incorporate words with %’s, and in fact has quite the verbose vocabulary herself. She seems, indeed, to be a connoisseur of the finer things in life, and though their opinions may differ slightly on just what falls into that category, it’s still something he can respect.

Even from rustblooded filth.

Despite her initial remark about subservience, in fact, she seems... well, she certainly isn’t bending to him in deference as she should be, but she is strangely polite. Almost too polite, sometimes. He grows to respect her for that.

Even though she’s a terrible genetic monstrosity.

Some days he thinks it’s a shame, that she was born a human and not a troll. She’d make a fine purple-blood, he thinks, and it is with no small amount of chagrin, thinking that a _human_ , of all people, would be so well fit to rule over him. If he’s being honest with himself, though, which isn’t something he practices often, there is something e%ceptionally thrilling about the way she wears a color that doesn’t rightly belong to her, and the way she isn’t intimidated by his clearly superior status, and the way she steps above her place on occasion to “psychoanalyze” him.

Her words are entrancing and her occasional yet deliberate steps out of line endear her to him, darkly, almost as much as the way she stands politely along it the rest of the time.

But he is no fool. He sees the black looming, knows what is coming, knows it cannot last. Something happens to Rose, and he has heard Kanaya bemoan having reached that point for a while now, and he himself cannot evade it, either. There are only so many conversations that can be had with the e%quisite example of humanity.

And, eventually, they have their last conversation.

centaursTesticle [CT] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]

CT: D --> Rose   
CT: D --> I hope that y001 spare me a little of your time for a conversation   
CT: D --> This would be a tr001y shameful time to hoof to come back later   
TT: Ah, yes. The dreaded blackout that Kanaya has promised me is looming.   
TT: I must admit I’m beginning to grow quite curious about just what might be obscuring so large a time in the session.   
TT: I suppose I shall just have to wait and see.   
TT: What brings you to trolling me at the moment?   
CT: D --> You are not so f001ish as the e%tensive majority of other options I have to talk to   
TT: Oh, so I am just the better of your possible evils.   
TT: You truly know how to flatter a girl.   
CT: D --> That was not my e%plicit intent but I’m glad you think so   
TT: The insistence with which some of you trolls fail to comprehend sarcasm is truly startling, especially when one considers the proficiency Kanaya’s displayed in the skill.   
TT: It’s not that you lack the ability, clearly.

The conversation goes on with surprising normalcy, but, as he knew all too well, it must eventually end.

TT: As lovely as the depths are to which this conversation has descended, I’m afraid I simply can’t spare any more time for idle chatter. I am not Dave, and thus I must begin working now if I am to put my plan into action on time.   
TT: Goodbye, Equius.   
TT: I hope, perhaps stupidly, that once all of this blackout business is over I shall once again be able to talk to you.   
TT: It has been surreal, but fascinating.   
CT: D --> I agree   
CT: D --> It’s been a rare pleasure talking to you   
CT: D --> Goodbye

tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased being trolled by  centaursTesticle [CT]

And just like that, it was over. That was it. She was gone.

He stared at the screen for a while, and though that was just the beginning of his coping with her absence, it felt a lot like the end. Of everything.

He talked to Nepeta for a while, and considered collecting scrap to forge into a robot facsimile, but after a while he found himself back at the computer screen, staring at the black mark that stretched across just the one timeline, and he steeled himself up. He was the Heir of Void. And that looked like a void to him, so he might as well give it a shot.

He clicked.

And a chat window opened.

centaursTesticle [CT] began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]

CT: D --> Rose   
TT: Fgghrryl’st rrglyy srtgallyh gnth jgygn?

The words on his screen are clearly total gibberish, the same way that the timeline where he’s clicked is clearly black and empty, but they are familiar and haunting in a deeply unsettling way.

Somehow, inexplicably, he can understand what she’s saying.

CT: D --> I don’t rightly have any c100   
CT: D --> I just thought that it would be worth giving it a sporting chance   
CT: D --> So I clicked and there the chat window was   
CT: D --> I must admit I am e%ceptionally relieved   
CT: D --> I feared that perchance you had e%pired   
TT: Jhglysn, lgyst fgg’lharn wfyrnjglyg. Lghyyglyn fgrlsg’ngs jslkfrgfj j’gylfs?   
CT: D --> It appears as if I can   
TT: Lfft’hgjy yjgwcytt frgtzy’ff grsytlhb.   
CT: D --> Rose   
CT: D --> Uh, I have a rather pressing matter that I feel it behooves me to mention now   
CT: D --> When I believed that you had died, it began to seem much more relevant   
CT: D --> It is incredibly improper in every conceivable meaning of the word but, well, I believe I have developed   
CT: D --> Well, rather STRONG red feelings for you   
TT: …   
TT: Fyggly’sl wflktggh lwyflg glywhg?   
CT: D --> Horse manure-coated fiddlesticks, where are my towels   
CT: D --> I would not sink to such le%ical e%tremes   
CT: D --> But yes, I suppose I am in human love with you   
TT: …   
TT: Lgyslh ghlgy’fgs jlyg horglhat.   
TT: …   
TT: Mlygls lkg yglh flkygsll, lkhwajhgl.   
TT: Bllksygl lkjhw lkmmhghl lgyj hglam khatl.   
TT: Lslkyyg ahglkjs lkwzzmhg fl’hlsttr.   
TT: Jgylsnz.   
CT: D --> I see   
CT: D --> Well I would not want to keep you from pressing matters   
CT: D --> You are, as always, admirably busy   
CT: D --> Goodbye and goodluck   
TT: Flkglt’ghl lhtshgl lkap, mglspj.

tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased being trolled by centaursTesticle [CT]  
*****  
It’s hard to get the conversation out of her head, when Rose is the only woman standing against the villain that’s slaughtered her mother and John’s dad and now John himself. It’s ridiculous, because there are three corpses on the ground around her and she is full of anger and an avenging desire for all of them. But... there’s something about the thought that niggles at her, that won’t quite leave her alone.

He loves her. She is loved by an alien from another universe. Someone from an entirely different culture and background who really had no reason to talk to her admires her and believes in her.

Though her eyes glint with infuriated vengeance and the magic pooling around her is borrowed from the horrorterrors, the thought of Equius tucked in the corner of her mind is lending her strength, as well.

Rose may not have John’s godtier powers, but she can do this. She knows she can, and she’s not the only one.

With four people in her mind and in her heart, like a cheesy kid’s show about love and friendship, she faces the villain and holds her needles at the ready.


End file.
